The present invention relates to a technology for processing images in parallel using a plurality of processors.
Generally in a laser printer system, a printing target written in PDL (Page Description Language) is developed into a printing image by an RIP (Raster Image Processor), and is subsequently sent to a printing engine to execute printing.
An enormous memory area is required if a complete one page of a printing image is developed and stored. Normally one page is divided into bands comprised of a plurality of scanning lines, and the printing image is developed in these units.
In order to execute this development processing in band units at high-speed, a configuration where each band is assigned to a plurality of processors respectively and development processing is executed in parallel has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-51019).